When you are a kid, there are a lot of influences on you and your general outlook on life. Parents are obvious, music is pretty common, teachers are important. For me, there was one that was critical, and seems pretty unusual: the movie ‘Real Genius’ It happened to be on cable last night, and I couldn’t stop watching it.
Certianly, the movie has it’s fair share of quotable moments, but for me there was something deeper. There were a couple messages in in that I just needed to hear at that moment in my life. For that matter, I need to hear them often.
The first was that it’s OK to be smart. It’s possible to be smart AND cool. Prior to that moment, the two seemed on opposite ends of the spectrum. Once my eyes were opened to that possiblity, I started to meet more and more people that fit into that bucket. There was one, who’s name I will never remember, that introduced me to punk rock. He just oozed cool, and that moment of influence is still with me. It’s worth mentioning that I met him on a state math team competition, so it’s pretty obvious that the smart was there too.
The second lesson was that it’s possible to work too hard. There are times when you pour yourself into what you do. I’m guilty of it all the time. I love what I do, and success is important to me. I want to save the world, be a good dad and make a good wage while I’m at it. But, push too hard and it’s pretty easy to realize that you are likely to miss on one of those many goals. It’s pretty easy to crack under the pressure. I’ve found myself doing that on many an occasion, and when I do, I realize that i’ve let myself get out of balance. Sometimes you just have to let go and have a good time for a bit.
The third lesson was that you have to question authority. Ok, this might be a bit of a stretch. But the two geniuses were betrayed by their professor with less than pure motives. It meshes well with my general philosophy (and the punk rock from lesson one) so it seems important as well. People’s motiviations aren’t always what they seem. While it’s easy to be cynical about that, you can also just accept self-interest as a fact of life and expect it without assuming malice.
In the end, its one of those watershed moments that make you set off in a direction. Since then, I’ve wanted to be charming, smart, driven, fun, and inquisitive. It’s doubtful that the movies creators had such lofty goals in mind, but it really was an influence on me.
Tags: authority, life balance, Real Genius, work
